Jo Gray is completing her PhD at the University of Western Australia. Her main interests lie in Internet-based phenomena: more specifically, how new technologies, services, laws, events and rumours affect the means with which people approach (and ultimately experience) on-line data.

She is writing her thesis about the Web for the Web, and it is for this reason that many of her theoretical considerations are integrated into

Fibreculture in association with critical new media studies sectionsin universities across Brisbane, invites you to a meeting in July 2003on theory, policy, practice, and education in New Media and the Internet.Fibrepower :: Currents in Australian Internet Research and Culture will bringtogether practitioners in the academy and industry from around Australia andNew Zealand to participate in critically informed debates about new media andits cultures. It follows the ANZCA03 conference(see http://www.bgsb.qut.edu.au/conferences/ANZCA03/index.html - 9-11 Julyat QUT Gardens Point Campus, Brisbane).

:: Theme of the 2003 Fibreculture Meeting :: fibrepower ::

In academic and popular discourses, new media, the Internet, and 'virtualreality' are often described as just this - a 'virtual' reality, an Other,a 'cyberspace' which is somehow disconnected from the 'real' and secondaryto 'life' experiences and issues. It is rarely accepted in the dominantInternet discourses of commercial and social culture that the truth isvastly different. New media and networked technologies currently pervadeour lives and connect us ever more closely and solidly as citizens ofnetworked society.

If information and knowledge, in the new economy, are 'power', then thecopper, optical, or wireless fibres spanning the networks are conduits forthis power; they are full of power, and powerful. Their daily influence andthe network's influence on human society is real and tangible.::fibreculture:: wants to address this continued insistence onconceptualising networked life and Internet cultures as a separate, second-rate or exotic reality, a dichotomy which obscures fact and prevents anyin-depth engagement with and critique of the power of 'fibre' over and inour everyday lives.

Set in a literal and figurative locus of power from the previous,industrial, era, the :: fibrepower :: meeting will engage with a rangeof themes that disclose the unseen power of fibre-culture in theinformational age. Outcomes of this event will include a high profilepublic forum, an online publication of refereed articles, and deeperconnections between new media industries, the academy and others. Themeeting will be held at the Brisbane Powerhouse from July 11-13, 2003.

:: Fibrepower in the Regions:: Public Discussion Headed by Gerard Goggin:: with guest speakers, panelists, and Q&A

<In Australasia regional and rural areas continue to miss out on reliableand fast access to the global networks. This contributes significantly tothe growing digital divide, and carries important implications for publicand private policy. How can we increase the fibrepower of the regions, andwhat are current examples of best practice?>

Gerard Goggin (g.goggin@uq.edu.au) is a postdoctoral research fellow in theCentre for Critical and Cultural Studies, University of Queensland. He iswriting a book entitled *Networked Imaginings: A Cultural History ofAustralian Internet*, and has long had an interest in rural and regionalinternet and telecommunications (not least from living in the countryhimself).

:: Introduction to the Fibreculture List:: Open Session, M/C Collaboration, fc Webjournal, and other activities:: Geert Lovink, David Teh, Axel Bruns, and other FC facilitators

The public forum will be followed by the opening ofthe fc03 new media art exhibition :: digital literacies :: and music.

In conjunction with the conference, fibreculture and fAf are offering anonline gallery space set up as an opportunity for exploration by artists toexplore critical literacies and conference themes.

An A4 gallery of resonant works will also be displayed at the conferencevenue providing opportunity for practitioners and all to respond visuallyto the conference themes both beforehand and during the discussions.

Session Heads will soon be posting more detailed statements on theirrespective sessions to the list, asking for 'Position Statements' fromlist members. There are no formal academic papers given.Positions should be posted with 'POS' in the subject header.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Registration details:

Three-day meeting registration includes attendance at all sessions,lunches, morning and afternoon teas. All prices include GST.

:: Three-day registration$27.50/$55.00

:: Opening nite forum and art exhibition only$10.00/$15.00

(Prices are for students and other concession cardholders / non-students.)

Registration forms will be available from the fibreculture Website shortly:http://www.fibreculture.org/Late registration will be possible during the weekend.Cheques, cash and money orders only, thank you.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::See http://www.fibreculture.org/ for details.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

:: fibreculture:: is a collaborative network of Australasian academics,postgrads, scientists, IT professionals, curators, writers, journalists,activists and new media artists committed to the openness and intellectualautonomy of wired Australia. The aims of :: fibreculture :: are to promoteexcellence in Internet theory and culture at the level of tertiaryeducation, but also to foster creative collaboration with industry, supportcritique, and influence cultural policy on social and political issues ofrelevance and importance. The :: fibreculture :: mailing list and websitewere started by David Teh and Geert Lovink.

Fibreculture in association with critical new media studies sectionsin universities across Brisbane, invites you to a meeting in July 2003on theory, policy, practice, and education in New Media and the Internet.Fibrepower :: Currents in Australian Internet Research and Culture will bringtogether practitioners in the academy and industry from around Australia andNew Zealand to participate in critically informed debates about new media andits cultures. It follows the ANZCA03 conference(see http://www.bgsb.qut.edu.au/conferences/ANZCA03/index.html - 9-11 Julyat QUT Gardens Point Campus, Brisbane).

:: Theme of the 2003 Fibreculture Meeting :: fibrepower ::

In academic and popular discourses, new media, the Internet, and 'virtualreality' are often described as just this - a 'virtual' reality, an Other,a 'cyberspace' which is somehow disconnected from the 'real' and secondaryto 'life' experiences and issues. It is rarely accepted in the dominantInternet discourses of commercial and social culture that the truth isvastly different. New media and networked technologies currently pervadeour lives and connect us ever more closely and solidly as citizens ofnetworked society.

If information and knowledge, in the new economy, are 'power', then thecopper, optical, or wireless fibres spanning the networks are conduits forthis power; they are full of power, and powerful. Their daily influence andthe network's influence on human society is real and tangible.::fibreculture:: wants to address this continued insistence onconceptualising networked life and Internet cultures as a separate, second-rate or exotic reality, a dichotomy which obscures fact and prevents anyin-depth engagement with and critique of the power of 'fibre' over and inour everyday lives.

Set in a literal and figurative locus of power from the previous,industrial, era, the :: fibrepower :: meeting will engage with a rangeof themes that disclose the unseen power of fibre-culture in theinformational age. Outcomes of this event will include a high profilepublic forum, an online publication of refereed articles, and deeperconnections between new media industries, the academy and others. Themeeting will be held at the Brisbane Powerhouse from July 11-13, 2003.

:: Fibrepower in the Regions:: Public Discussion Headed by Gerard Goggin:: with guest speakers, panelists, and Q&A

<In Australasia regional and rural areas continue to miss out on reliableand fast access to the global networks. This contributes significantly tothe growing digital divide, and carries important implications for publicand private policy. How can we increase the fibrepower of the regions, andwhat are current examples of best practice?>

Gerard Goggin (g.goggin@uq.edu.au) is a postdoctoral research fellow in theCentre for Critical and Cultural Studies, University of Queensland. He iswriting a book entitled *Networked Imaginings: A Cultural History ofAustralian Internet*, and has long had an interest in rural and regionalinternet and telecommunications (not least from living in the countryhimself).

:: Introduction to the Fibreculture List:: Open Session, M/C Collaboration, fc Webjournal, and other activities:: Geert Lovink, David Teh, Axel Bruns, and other FC facilitators

The public forum will be followed by the opening ofthe fc03 new media art exhibition :: digital literacies :: and music.

In conjunction with the conference, fibreculture and fAf are offering anonline gallery space set up as an opportunity for exploration by artists toexplore critical literacies and conference themes.

An A4 gallery of resonant works will also be displayed at the conferencevenue providing opportunity for practitioners and all to respond visuallyto the conference themes both beforehand and during the discussions.

Session Heads will soon be posting more detailed statements on theirrespective sessions to the list, asking for 'Position Statements' fromlist members. There are no formal academic papers given.Positions should be posted with 'POS' in the subject header.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Registration details:

Three-day meeting registration includes attendance at all sessions,lunches, morning and afternoon teas. All prices include GST.

:: Three-day registration$27.50/$55.00

:: Opening nite forum and art exhibition only$10.00/$15.00

(Prices are for students and other concession cardholders / non-students.)

Registration forms will be available from the fibreculture Website shortly:http://www.fibreculture.org/Late registration will be possible during the weekend.Cheques, cash and money orders only, thank you.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::See http://www.fibreculture.org/ for details.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

:: fibreculture:: is a collaborative network of Australasian academics,postgrads, scientists, IT professionals, curators, writers, journalists,activists and new media artists committed to the openness and intellectualautonomy of wired Australia. The aims of :: fibreculture :: are to promoteexcellence in Internet theory and culture at the level of tertiaryeducation, but also to foster creative collaboration with industry, supportcritique, and influence cultural policy on social and political issues ofrelevance and importance. The :: fibreculture :: mailing list and websitewere started by David Teh and Geert Lovink.

Fibreculture in association with critical new media studies sectionsin universities across Brisbane, invites you to a meeting in July 2003on theory, policy, practice, and education in New Media and the Internet.Fibrepower :: Currents in Australian Internet Research and Culture will bringtogether practitioners in the academy and industry from around Australia andNew Zealand to participate in critically informed debates about new media andits cultures. It follows the ANZCA03 conference(see http://www.bgsb.qut.edu.au/conferences/ANZCA03/index.html - 9-11 Julyat QUT Gardens Point Campus, Brisbane).

:: Theme of the 2003 Fibreculture Meeting :: fibrepower ::

In academic and popular discourses, new media, the Internet, and 'virtualreality' are often described as just this - a 'virtual' reality, an Other,a 'cyberspace' which is somehow disconnected from the 'real' and secondaryto 'life' experiences and issues. It is rarely accepted in the dominantInternet discourses of commercial and social culture that the truth isvastly different. New media and networked technologies currently pervadeour lives and connect us ever more closely and solidly as citizens ofnetworked society.

If information and knowledge, in the new economy, are 'power', then thecopper, optical, or wireless fibres spanning the networks are conduits forthis power; they are full of power, and powerful. Their daily influence andthe network's influence on human society is real and tangible.::fibreculture:: wants to address this continued insistence onconceptualising networked life and Internet cultures as a separate, second-rate or exotic reality, a dichotomy which obscures fact and prevents anyin-depth engagement with and critique of the power of 'fibre' over and inour everyday lives.

Set in a literal and figurative locus of power from the previous,industrial, era, the :: fibrepower :: meeting will engage with a rangeof themes that disclose the unseen power of fibre-culture in theinformational age. Outcomes of this event will include a high profilepublic forum, an online publication of refereed articles, and deeperconnections between new media industries, the academy and others. Themeeting will be held at the Brisbane Powerhouse from July 11-13, 2003.

:: Fibrepower in the Regions:: Public Discussion Headed by Gerard Goggin:: with guest speakers, panelists, and Q&A

Gerard Goggin (g.goggin@uq.edu.au) is a postdoctoral research fellow in theCentre for Critical and Cultural Studies, University of Queensland. He iswriting a book entitled *Networked Imaginings: A Cultural History ofAustralian Internet*, and has long had an interest in rural and regionalinternet and telecommunications (not least from living in the countryhimself).

:: Introduction to the Fibreculture List:: Open Session, M/C Collaboration, fc Webjournal, and other activities:: Geert Lovink, David Teh, Axel Bruns, and other FC facilitators

The public forum will be followed by the opening ofthe fc03 new media art exhibition :: digital literacies :: and music.

In conjunction with the conference, fibreculture and fAf are offering anonline gallery space set up as an opportunity for exploration by artists toexplore critical literacies and conference themes.

An A4 gallery of resonant works will also be displayed at the conferencevenue providing opportunity for practitioners and all to respond visuallyto the conference themes both beforehand and during the discussions.

Session Heads will soon be posting more detailed statements on theirrespective sessions to the list, asking for 'Position Statements' fromlist members. There are no formal academic papers given.Positions should be posted with 'POS' in the subject header.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Registration details:

Three-day meeting registration includes attendance at all sessions,lunches, morning and afternoon teas. All prices include GST.

:: Three-day registration$27.50/$55.00

:: Opening nite forum and art exhibition only$10.00/$15.00

(Prices are for students and other concession cardholders / non-students.)

Registration forms will be available from the fibreculture Website shortly:http://www.fibreculture.org/Late registration will be possible during the weekend.Cheques, cash and money orders only, thank you.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::See http://www.fibreculture.org/ for details.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

:: fibreculture:: is a collaborative network of Australasian academics,postgrads, scientists, IT professionals, curators, writers, journalists,activists and new media artists committed to the openness and intellectualautonomy of wired Australia. The aims of :: fibreculture :: are to promoteexcellence in Internet theory and culture at the level of tertiaryeducation, but also to foster creative collaboration with industry, supportcritique, and influence cultural policy on social and political issues ofrelevance and importance. The :: fibreculture :: mailing list and websitewere started by David Teh and Geert Lovink.